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FReeper Canteen ~ Get Cup Crazy ~ April 27, 2006
Colonel_Flagg
Posted on 04/26/2006 8:45:25 PM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
Serving the best troops in the world - welcome to the FR Canteen!
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The FR Canteen is for the enjoyment of our troops and all those who support them. Our mission is to honor those past and present who have served the nation. Welcome to all who support our troops!
Get Cup Crazy!
Its the oldest trophy in North American professional sports and its also the hardest trophy to win. Four rounds spread over six weeks sixteen playoff wins requiring total commitment, heart and desire, but the result for the winner is a years custody of perhaps the most recognizable trophy in sports as well.
The Stanley Cup was the gift of this gentleman:
Lord Stanley of Preston, who bought the initial Stanley Cup for about $50 in 1892. At that time, it looked like this:
Note the height of the trophy, or rather the lack of the same. The original Cup lasted until 1948 when it was redesigned. By tradition (in fact, as a condition of the original challenge competition set down by Lord Stanley), each winning team would inscribe its name on a ring added to the cup, a tradition which, since 1924, has since been expanded to inscribe the names of the members of the winning team and their organizations. The Stanley Cup is thus the only trophy in North American professional sports so inscribed. The names of eight women are also inscribed on the Cup.
But equally as impressive as the Cup is the colorful history it carries. Tradition also dictates that each member of the Cup-winning team gets to take the trophy for a day and do what he pleases with it. That has led to some great stories, which follow. For more information, check out http://www.geocities.com/szczepanczyk/stanley.html. Enjoy!
1905 Ottawa Silver Seven Hockey was a different game at the turn of the 20th Century no forward passing was allowed in the offensive zone, and teams, as this picture will attest, only had seven players without substitutions. But that didnt stop hijinks with the Cup. The story goes that after the Silver Seven won the Stanley Cup, one celebrant boasted he could kick it across the frozen Rideau Canal, which links Ottawa on the Ottawa River with Kingston on Lake Ontario. In a day when the Cup was a football-sized bowl and when most hockey players also played rugby, he proceeded to drop kick it into the frozen canal. (Some sources list it as being submerged.) The partiers proceeded to party elsewhere, leaving the Cup behind. The next morning, the players realized that the Cup was still at the Canal, and thankfully found it.
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1907 Montreal Wanderers Not to be outdone by the Silver Seven, the Wanderers added to Cup lore a few years later. The club reportedly wanted its picture taken with the Cup in the studio of photographer Jimmy Rice. After taking the photo, the team left without the Cup. It stayed in the studio for some months until Rice's mother (some sources say it was his wife or his housekeeper or his cleaning lady) used it as a vase, as it held red geraniums in the Studio window.
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1924 Montreal Canadiens After winning in 1924, the Canadiens took the Cup to the home of their owner, Leo Dandurand, for a party. Naturally, hilarity ensued when the car carrying the Cup had a tire blowout. And equally naturally, the Cup was left behind on the roadside after the tire was fixed. Thankfully, it too was found where it was left. Youd think that the trophy would be easy to remember. Or, perhaps not.
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1927 Ottawa Senators King Clancy was a great defenseman of the 1920s. He was so great, in fact, that the Senators left the trophy in his living room for most of the 1927 off-season. There it served as a holder for letters, bills, chewing gum and cigar butts. Nothing like a useful piece of furniture.
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1940 New York Rangers The most famous instance of Cup misplay. In 1940, the mortgage on the then-new Madison Square Garden was paid off. The management publicly celebrated by burning the mortgage in the Cup. Some fans claimed that this act "desecrated" the Cup, leading to the alleged Curse of 1940. The Rangers waited 54 years for their next triumph.
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1947 Toronto Maple Leafs Legendary coach Conn Smythe was pretty sure of his Maple Leafs in 1947. Leading Montreal three games to two in the finals, Smythe left the Cup in Montreal knowing that it would be there to celebrate a Game Seven win for his Leafs. However, the Leafs won Game Six in Toronto, taking the series 4-2. When the time came to hoist the Cup well, it was in Montreal. Oops. The NHLs playoff MVP trophy is now named for Smythe its a good thing the award has nothing to do with prognostication.
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Late 1960s and early 1970s No One This is the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, and our story of Cup miscues continues here. For it was from this building that the Stanley Cup was stolen, twice, in the late 1960s and early 70s along with the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Bill Masterton Trophy, presented each year for perseverance and dedication to hockey. Thankfully, even though no trophy is given for dedication to police work, all three trophes were recovered on both occasions.
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1980 New York Islanders Meet Clark Gillies, one of the better forwards of the 1980s. His highly publicized visit with the Cup after the Isles first of four straight wins in 1980 featured Gillies letting his dog eat from the bowl. Good dog. Teammate Bryan Trottier, on the other hand, chose to sleep with the Cup to make sure it wasnt a dream. Trottier would go on to win seven Stanley Cup rings six as a player and one as an assistant coach.
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1986 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Canadiens wing Chris Nilan was known primarily for the expert way he accumulated penalty minutes during his NHL career. Renowned (or reviled) as one of the leagues great pugilists, he achieved fame after Montreals 1986 win by photographing the Cup with his infant son sitting in the bowl. One would hope that Gillies had cleaned out the dog food first.
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To: fanfan
Nevermind Detroit is done....
They are already losing....
To: LUV W
See ya on the new thread!
Check your Freepmail, too, okay?
*HUG*
Ms.B
502
posted on
04/27/2006 7:04:19 PM PDT
by
MS.BEHAVIN
(Women who behave rarely make history)
To: MS.BEHAVIN
Okers! I'm already over there! Hee-hee!
503
posted on
04/27/2006 7:05:49 PM PDT
by
luvie
(A free Iraq . ... will serve as an amazing example for people who are desperate for freedom! GWB)
To: MikefromOhio
The game is not over yet!
See you tomorrow.
;-)
504
posted on
04/27/2006 7:05:54 PM PDT
by
fanfan
(FR is the best/biggest news gathering entity in the whole known history of the world. Thanks Jim.)
To: fanfan
To: Kathy in Alaska
No, I didn't get any cherry kisses and I want them. I'll have to wait till tomorrow now. I wouldn't dare call an air drop this late; I'll just have bonbons.
506
posted on
04/27/2006 7:20:19 PM PDT
by
Lady Jag
((,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸Ooooh...I think I over-medicated¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸))
To: darkwing104
Hey, congrats DW!
That looks like it's going to be a great house.
507
posted on
04/27/2006 7:23:27 PM PDT
by
HiJinx
(Call Early ~ Call Often!)
To: Lady Jag
508
posted on
04/27/2006 7:23:30 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
(~ www.ProudPatriots.org ~ Operation Easter and Passover ~)
To: MikefromOhio
Hi Mike....
509
posted on
04/27/2006 7:25:44 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
(~ www.ProudPatriots.org ~ Operation Easter and Passover ~)
To: stephenjohnbanker; Brad's Gramma
I can't stand the cold anymore, though. That's why I'm here now. Spent time in Ohio, Germany, and Kansas...thanks, but no thanks.
510
posted on
04/27/2006 7:30:13 PM PDT
by
HiJinx
(Call Early ~ Call Often!)
To: Kathy in Alaska
To: Kathy in Alaska; tomkow6; Brad's Gramma
What did I do???? I'm innocent I tell ya!:)
512
posted on
04/27/2006 7:35:22 PM PDT
by
AZamericonnie
(~www.ProudPatriots.org~Serving those who serve us!~)
To: Kathy in Alaska
...as long as they're DARK chocolate.
513
posted on
04/27/2006 7:35:36 PM PDT
by
Lady Jag
((,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸Ooooh...I think I over-medicated¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸))
To: darkwing104
YIPPEEEE!!! Good for you!!
Is it where you were looking before??
514
posted on
04/27/2006 8:17:38 PM PDT
by
StarCMC
(Proud member of ProudPatriots.org--supporting smart troops like CMS and Old Sarge since Nov. 4, 2004)
To: MikefromOhio
The Red Wings scored three power-play goals, including Nicklas Lidstrom's winner off a two-man advantage in the third period in a 4-2 victory over Edmonton to even their best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series 2-2.Morning Mike!
;-)
515
posted on
04/28/2006 4:35:23 AM PDT
by
fanfan
(FR is the best/biggest news gathering entity in the whole known history of the world. Thanks Jim.)
To: Brad's Gramma
516
posted on
04/28/2006 8:13:44 AM PDT
by
stephenjohnbanker
((Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
To: HiJinx
Did you ever shovel your driveway out, only to turn around to find that the wind had blown most of the snow back again??
R O T F L M B O!
517
posted on
04/28/2006 8:31:12 AM PDT
by
stephenjohnbanker
((Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
To: stephenjohnbanker
No, but I came home to find that my neighbors had shoveled the snow from their parking spaces into mine!
518
posted on
04/28/2006 8:40:54 AM PDT
by
HiJinx
(Call Early ~ Call Often!)
To: HiJinx
That doth not make for friendly neighbor relations : )
did you asphalt their front yard?
519
posted on
04/28/2006 8:45:44 AM PDT
by
stephenjohnbanker
((Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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